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API synopsis / quick reference

[[TOC]]

Usage modes

A project or module using SIMD can choose to integrate into its callers via static or dynamic dispatch. Examples of both are provided in examples/.

Static dispatch means choosing the single CPU target at compile-time. This does not require any setup nor per-call overhead.

Dynamic dispatch means generating implementations for multiple targets and choosing the best available at runtime. Uses the same source code as static, plus #define HWY_TARGET_INCLUDE and #include "third_party/highway/hwy/foreach_target.h".

Headers

The public headers are:

  • hwy/highway.h: main header, included from source AND/OR header files that use vector types. Note that including in headers may increase compile time, but allows declaring functions implemented out of line.

  • hwy/base.h: included from headers that only need compiler/platform-dependent definitions (e.g. HWY_ALIGN_MAX and/or kMaxVectorSize) without the full highway.h.

  • hwy/foreach_target.h: re-includes the translation unit (specified by HWY_TARGET_INCLUDE) once per enabled target to generate code from the same source code. highway.h must still be included, either before or after.

  • hwy/aligned_allocator.h: defines functions for allocating memory with alignment suitable for Load/Store.

  • hwy/cache_control.h: defines stand-alone functions to control caching (e.g. prefetching) and memory barriers, independent of actual SIMD.

SIMD implementations must be preceded and followed by the following:

#include "hwy/highway.h"
HWY_BEFORE_NAMESPACE();  // at file scope
namespace project {  // optional
namespace HWY_NAMESPACE {

// implementation

// NOLINTNEXTLINE(google-readability-namespace-comments)
}  // namespace HWY_NAMESPACE
}  // namespace project - optional
HWY_AFTER_NAMESPACE();

Preprocessor macros

  • HWY_ALIGN: Ensures an array is aligned and suitable for Load()/Store() functions. Example: HWY_ALIGN float lanes[4]; Note that arrays are mainly useful for 128-bit SIMD, or LoadDup128; otherwise, use dynamic allocation.

  • HWY_ALIGN_MAX: As HWY_ALIGN, but aligns to an upper bound suitable for all targets on this platform. Use this for caller of SIMD modules, e.g. for arrays used as arguments.

Vector and descriptor types

SIMD vectors consist of one or more 'lanes' of the same built-in type T = uint##_t, int##_t, float or double for ## = 8, 16, 32, 64. Highway provides vectors with N <= kMaxVectorSize / sizeof(T) lanes, where N is a power of two.

Platforms such as x86 support multiple vector types, and other platforms require that vectors are built-in types. Thus the Highway API consists of overloaded functions selected via a zero-sized tag parameter d of type D = Simd<T, N>. These are typically constructed using aliases:

  • const HWY_FULL(T) d; chooses the maximum N for the current target;
  • const HWY_CAPPED(T, N) d; for up to N lanes.

The type T may be accessed as D::T (prefixed with typename if D is a template argument).

There are three possibilities for the template parameter N:

  1. Equal to the hardware vector width. This is the most common case, e.g. when using HWY_FULL(T) on a target with compile-time constant vectors.

  2. Less than the hardware vector width. This is the result of a compile-time decision by the user, i.e. using HWY_CAPPED(T, N) to limit the number of lanes, even when the hardware vector width could be greater.

  3. Greater or equal to the hardware vector width, e.g. when the hardware vector width is not known at compile-time. User code should not rely on N actually being an upper bound, because variable vectors can be large!

In all cases, Lanes(d) returns the actual number of lanes, i.e. the amount by which to advance loop counters. MaxLanes(d) returns the N from Simd<T, N>, which is NOT necessarily the actual vector size (see above) and some compilers are not able to interpret it as constexpr. Instead of MaxLanes, prefer to use alternatives, e.g. Rebind or aligned_allocator.h for dynamic allocation of Lanes(d) elements.

Note that case 3 does not imply the API will use more than one native vector. Highway is designed to map a user-specified vector to a single (possibly partial) vector. By discouraging user-specified N, we improve performance portability (e.g. by reducing spills to memory for platforms that have smaller vectors than the developer expected).

To construct vectors, call factory functions (see "Initialization" below) with a tag parameter d.

Local variables typically use auto for type deduction. If d is HWY_FULL(int32_t), users may instead use the full-width vector alias I32xN (or U16xN, F64xN etc.) to document the types used.

For function arguments, it is often sufficient to return the same type as the argument: template<class V> V Squared(V v) { return v * v; }. Otherwise, use the alias Vec<D>.

Note that Highway functions reside in hwy::HWY_NAMESPACE, whereas user-defined functions reside in project::[nested]::HWY_NAMESPACE. Because all Highway functions generally take either a Simd or vector argument, which are also defined in namespace hwy, they will typically be found via Argument-Dependent Lookup and namespace qualifiers are not necessary. As an exception, Highway functions that are templates (e.g. because they require a compile-time argument such as a lane index or shift count) require a using-declaration such as using hwy::HWY_NAMESPACE::ShiftLeft.

Operations

In the following, the argument or return type V denotes a vector with N lanes. Operations limited to certain vector types begin with a constraint of the form V: {u,i,f}{8/16/32/64} to denote unsigned/signed/floating-point types, possibly with the specified size in bits of T.

Initialization

  • V Zero(D): returns N-lane vector with all bits set to 0.
  • V Set(D, T): returns N-lane vector with all lanes equal to the given value of type T.
  • V Undefined(D): returns uninitialized N-lane vector, e.g. for use as an output parameter.
  • V Iota(D, T): returns N-lane vector where the lane with index i has the given value of type T plus i. The least significant lane has index 0. This is useful in tests for detecting lane-crossing bugs.
  • V SignBit(D, T): returns N-lane vector with all lanes set to a value whose representation has only the most-significant bit set.

Arithmetic

  • V operator+(V a, V b): returns a[i] + b[i] (mod 2^bits).

  • V operator-(V a, V b): returns a[i] - b[i] (mod 2^bits).

  • V: ui8/16
    V SaturatedAdd(V a, V b) returns a[i] + b[i] saturated to the minimum/maximum representable value.

  • V: ui8/16
    V SaturatedSub(V a, V b) returns a[i] - b[i] saturated to the minimum/maximum representable value.

  • V: u8/16
    V AverageRound(V a, V b) returns (a[i] + b[i] + 1) / 2.

  • V: i8/16/32, f
    V Abs(V a) returns the absolute value of a[i]; for integers, LimitsMin() maps to LimitsMax() + 1.

  • V: ui8/16/32, f
    V Min(V a, V b): returns min(a[i], b[i]).

  • V: ui8/16/32, f
    V Max(V a, V b): returns max(a[i], b[i]).

  • V: ui8/16/32, f
    V Clamp(V a, V lo, V hi): returns a[i] clamped to [lo[i], hi[i]].

  • V: f
    V operator/(V a, V b): returns a[i] / b[i] in each lane.

  • V: f
    V Sqrt(V a): returns sqrt(a[i]).

  • V: f32
    V ApproximateReciprocalSqrt(V a): returns an approximation of 1.0 / sqrt(a[i]). sqrt(a) ~= ApproximateReciprocalSqrt(a) * a. x86 and PPC provide 12-bit approximations but the error on ARM is closer to 1%.

  • V: f32
    V ApproximateReciprocal(V a): returns an approximation of 1.0 / a[i].

  • V: f32
    V AbsDiff(V a, V b): returns |a[i] - b[i]| in each lane.

Multiply

  • V: ui16/32
    V operator*(V a, V b): returns the lower half of a[i] * b[i] in each lane.

  • V: f
    V operator*(V a, V b): returns a[i] * b[i] in each lane.

  • V: i16
    V MulHigh(V a, V b): returns the upper half of a[i] * b[i] in each lane.

  • V: ui32
    V MulEven(V a, V b): returns double-wide result of a[i] * b[i] for every even i, in lanes i (lower) and i + 1 (upper).

Fused multiply-add

When implemented using special instructions, these functions are more precise and faster than separate multiplication followed by addition. The *Sub variants are somewhat slower on ARM; it is preferable to replace them with MulAdd using a negated constant.

  • V: f
    V MulAdd(V a, V b, V c): returns a[i] * b[i] + c[i].

  • V: f
    V NegMulAdd(V a, V b, V c): returns -a[i] * b[i] + c[i].

  • V: f
    V MulSub(V a, V b, V c): returns a[i] * b[i] - c[i].

  • V: f
    V NegMulSub(V a, V b, V c): returns -a[i] * b[i] - c[i].

Shifts

Note: it is generally fastest to shift by a compile-time constant number of bits. ARM requires the count be less than the lane size.

  • V: ui16/32/64
    V ShiftLeft<int>(V a) returns a[i] << a compile-time constant count.

  • V: u16/32/64, i16/32
    V ShiftRight<int>(V a) returns a[i] >> a compile-time constant count. Inserts zero or sign bit(s) depending on V.

Note: Vectors must be HWY_CAPPED(T, HWY_VARIABLE_SHIFT_LANES(T)):

  • V: ui32/64
    V operator<<(V a, V b) returns a[i] << b[i], which is zero when b[i] >= sizeof(T)*8.

  • V: u32/64, i32
    V operator>>(V a, V b) returns a[i] >> b[i], which is zero when b[i] >= sizeof(T)*8. Inserts zero or sign bit(s).

Note: the following are only provided if HWY_VARIABLE_SHIFT_LANES(T) == 1:

  • V: ui16/32/64
    V ShiftLeftSame(V a, int bits) returns a[i] << bits.

  • V: u16/32/64, i16/32
    V ShiftRightSame(V a, int bits) returns a[i] >> bits. Inserts 0 or sign bit(s).

Floating-point rounding

  • V: f
    V Round(V a): returns a[i] rounded towards the nearest integer, with ties to even.

  • V: f
    V Trunc(V a): returns a[i] rounded towards zero (truncate).

  • V: f
    V Ceil(V a): returns a[i] rounded towards positive infinity (ceiling).

  • V: f
    V Floor(V a): returns a[i] rounded towards negative infinity.

Logical

These operate on individual bits within each lane.

  • V: ui
    V operator&(V a, V b): returns a[i] & b[i].

  • V: ui
    V operator|(V a, V b): returns a[i] | b[i].

  • V: ui
    V operator^(V a, V b): returns a[i] ^ b[i].

For floating-point types, builtin operators are not always available, so non-operator functions (also available for integers) must be used:

  • V And(V a, V b): returns a[i] & b[i].

  • V Or(V a, V b): returns a[i] | b[i].

  • V Xor(V a, V b): returns a[i] ^ b[i].

  • V AndNot(V a, V b): returns ~a[i] & b[i].

Masks

Let M denote a mask capable of storing true/false for each lane.

  • M MaskFromVec(V v): returns false in lane i if v[i] == 0, or true if v[i] has all bits set.

  • V VecFromMask(M m): returns 0 in lane i if m[i] == false, otherwise all bits set.

  • V IfThenElse(M mask, V yes, V no): returns mask[i] ? yes[i] : no[i].

  • V IfThenElseZero(M mask, V yes): returns mask[i] ? yes[i] : 0.

  • V IfThenZeroElse(M mask, V no): returns mask[i] ? 0 : no[i].

  • V ZeroIfNegative(V v): returns v[i] < 0 ? 0 : v[i].

  • bool AllTrue(M m): returns whether all m[i] are true.

  • bool AllFalse(M m): returns whether all m[i] are false.

  • uint64_t BitsFromMask(M m): returns sum{1 << i} for all indices i where m[i] is true.

  • size_t CountTrue(M m): returns how many of m[i] are true [0, N]. This is typically more expensive than AllTrue/False.

Comparisons

These return a mask (see above) indicating whether the condition is true.

  • M operator==(V a, V b): returns a[i] == b[i].

  • V: if
    M operator<(V a, V b): returns a[i] < b[i].

  • V: if
    M operator>(V a, V b): returns a[i] > b[i].

  • V: f
    M operator<=(V a, V b): returns a[i] <= b[i].

  • V: f
    M operator>=(V a, V b): returns a[i] >= b[i].

  • V: ui
    M TestBit(V v, V bit): returns (v[i] & bit[i]) == bit[i]. bit[i] must have exactly one bit set.

Memory

Memory operands are little-endian, otherwise their order would depend on the lane configuration. Pointers are the addresses of N consecutive T values, either naturally-aligned (aligned) or possibly unaligned (p).

Load

  • Vec<D> Load(D, const T* aligned): returns aligned[i].

  • Vec<D> LoadU(D, const T* p): returns p[i].

  • Vec<D> LoadDup128(D, const T* p): returns one 128-bit block loaded from p and broadcasted into all 128-bit block[s]. This enables a specialized U32FromU8 that avoids a 3-cycle overhead on AVX2/AVX-512. This may be faster than broadcasting single values, and is more convenient than preparing constants for the maximum vector length.

Gather

Note: Vectors must be HWY_CAPPED(T, HWY_GATHER_LANES(T)):

  • V,VI: (uif32,i32), (uif64,i64)
    Vec<D> GatherOffset(D, const T* base, VI offsets). Returns elements of base selected by signed/possibly repeated byte offsets[i].

  • V,VI: (uif32,i32), (uif64,i64)
    Vec<D> GatherIndex(D, const T* base, VI indices). Returns vector of base[indices[i]]. Indices are signed and need not be unique.

Store

  • void Store(Vec<D> a, D, T* aligned): copies a[i] into aligned[i], which must be naturally aligned. Writes exactly N * sizeof(T) bytes.
  • void StoreU(Vec<D> a, D, T* p): as Store, but without the alignment requirement.

Cache control

All functions except Stream are defined in cache_control.h.

  • void Stream(Vec<D> a, D, const T* aligned): copies a[i] into aligned[i] with non-temporal hint on x86 (for good performance, call for all consecutive vectors within the same cache line). (Over)writes a multiple of HWY_STREAM_MULTIPLE bytes.

  • void LoadFence(): delays subsequent loads until prior loads are visible. Also a full fence on Intel CPUs. No effect on non-x86.

  • void StoreFence(): ensures previous non-temporal stores are visible. No effect on non-x86.

  • void FlushCacheline(const void* p): invalidates and flushes the cache line containing "p". No effect on non-x86.

  • void Prefetch(const T* p): begins loading the cache line containing "p".

Type conversion

  • Vec<D> BitCast(D, V): returns the bits of V reinterpreted as type Vec<D>.

  • V,D: (u8,i16), (u8,i32), (u16,i32), (i8,i16), (i8,i32), (i16,i32), (f32,f64)
    Vec<D> PromoteTo(D, V part): returns part[i] zero- or sign-extended to the wider D::T type.

  • V,D: i32,f64
    Vec<D> PromoteTo(D, V part): returns part[i] converted to 64-bit floating point.

  • V,D: (u8,u32)
    Vec<D> U32FromU8(V): special-case u8 to u32 conversion when all blocks of V are identical, e.g. from LoadDup128.

  • V,D: (u32,u8)
    Vec<D> U8FromU32(V): special-case u32 to u8 conversion when all lanes of V are already clamped to [0, 256).

  • V,D: (i16,i8), (i32,i8), (i32,i16), (i16,u8), (i32,u8), (i32,u16), (f64,f32)
    Vec<D> DemoteTo(D, V a): returns a[i] after packing with signed/unsigned saturation, i.e. a vector with narrower type D::T.

  • V,D: f64,i32
    Vec<D> DemoteTo(D, V a): rounds floating point towards zero and converts the value to 32-bit integers.

  • V,D: (i32,f32), (i64,f64)
    Vec<D> ConvertTo(D, V): converts an integer value to same-sized floating point.

  • V,D: (f32,i32), (f64,i64)
    Vec<D> ConvertTo(D, V): rounds floating point towards zero and converts the value to same-sized integer.

  • V: f32; Ret: i32
    Ret NearestInt(V a): returns the integer nearest to a[i].

Swizzle

  • T GetLane(V): returns lane 0 within V. This is useful for extracting SumOfLanes results.

  • V2 Upper/LowerHalf(V): returns upper or lower half of the vector V.

  • V ZeroExtendVector(V2): returns vector whose UpperHalf is zero and whose LowerHalf is the argument.

  • V Combine(V2, V2): returns vector whose UpperHalf is the first argument and whose LowerHalf is the second argument.

  • V OddEven(V a, V b): returns a vector whose odd lanes are taken from a and the even lanes from b.

Note: if vectors are larger than 128 bits, the following operations split their operands into independently processed 128-bit blocks.

  • V: ui16/32/64, f
    V Broadcast<int i>(V): returns individual blocks, each with lanes set to input_block[i], i = [0, 16/sizeof(T)).

  • Ret: double-width u/i; V: u8/16/32, i8/16/32
    Ret ZipLower(V a, V b): returns the same bits as InterleaveLower, except that Ret is a vector with double-width lanes (required in order to use this operation with scalars).

Note: the following are only available for full vectors (N > 1), and split their operands into independently processed 128-bit blocks:

  • Ret: double-width u/i; V: u8/16/32, i8/16/32
    Ret ZipUpper(V a, V b): returns the same bits as InterleaveUpper, except that Ret is a vector with double-width lanes (required in order to use this operation with scalars).

  • V: ui
    V ShiftLeftBytes<int>(V): returns the result of shifting independent blocks left by int bytes [1, 15].

  • V:
    V ShiftLeftLanes<int>(V): returns the result of shifting independent blocks left by int lanes.

  • V: ui
    V ShiftRightBytes<int>(V): returns the result of shifting independent blocks right by int bytes [1, 15].

  • V:
    V ShiftRightLanes<int>(V): returns the result of shifting independent blocks right by int lanes.

  • V:
    V CombineShiftRightBytes<int>(V hi, V lo): returns a vector of blocks each the result of shifting two concatenated blocks hi[i] || lo[i] right by int bytes [1, 16).

  • V:
    V CombineShiftRightLanes<int>(V hi, V lo): returns a vector of blocks each the result of shifting two concatenated blocks hi[i] || lo[i] right by int lanes [1, 16/sizeof(T)).

  • V: ui; VI: ui
    V TableLookupBytes(V bytes, VI from): returns blocks with bytes[from[i]], or zero if bit 7 of byte from[i] is set.

  • V: uif32
    V Shuffle2301(V): returns blocks with 32-bit halves swapped inside 64-bit halves.

  • V: uif32
    V Shuffle1032(V): returns blocks with 64-bit halves swapped.

  • V: uif64
    V Shuffle01(V): returns blocks with 64-bit halves swapped.

  • V: uif32
    V Shuffle0321(V): returns blocks rotated right (toward the lower end) by 32 bits.

  • V: uif32
    V Shuffle2103(V): returns blocks rotated left (toward the upper end) by 32 bits.

  • V: uif32
    V Shuffle0123(V): returns blocks with lanes in reverse order.

  • V InterleaveLower(V a, V b): returns blocks with alternating lanes from the lower halves of a and b (a[0] in the least-significant lane).

  • V InterleaveUpper(V a, V b): returns blocks with alternating lanes from the upper halves of a and b (a[N/2] in the least-significant lane).

Note: the following operations cross block boundaries, which is typically more expensive on AVX2/AVX-512 than within-block operations.

  • V ConcatLowerLower(V hi, V lo): returns the concatenation of the lower halves of hi and lo without splitting into blocks.

  • V ConcatUpperUpper(V hi, V lo): returns the concatenation of the upper halves of hi and lo without splitting into blocks.

  • V ConcatLowerUpper(V hi, V lo): returns the inner half of the concatenation of hi and lo without splitting into blocks. Useful for swapping the two blocks in 256-bit vectors.

  • V ConcatUpperLower(V hi, V lo): returns the outer quarters of the concatenation of hi and lo without splitting into blocks. Unlike the other variants, this does not incur a block-crossing penalty on AVX2.

  • V: uif32
    V TableLookupLanes(V a, VI) returns a vector of a[indices[i]], where VI is from SetTableIndices(D, &indices[0]).

  • VI SetTableIndices(D, int* idx) prepares for TableLookupLanes with lane indices idx = [0, N) (need not be unique).

Reductions

Note: the following are only available for full vectors (including scalar). These 'reduce' all lanes to a single result. This result is broadcasted to all lanes at no extra cost; you can use GetLane to obtain the value.

Being a horizontal operation (across lanes of the same vector), these are slower than normal SIMD operations and are typically used outside critical loops.

  • V: u8; Ret: u64
    Ret SumsOfU8x8(V): returns the sums of 8 consecutive bytes in each 64-bit lane.

  • V: uif32/64
    V SumOfLanes(V v): returns the sum of all lanes in each lane.

  • V: uif32/64
    V MinOfLanes(V v): returns the minimum-valued lane in each lane.

  • V: uif32/64
    V MaxOfLanes(V v): returns the maximum-valued lane in each lane.

Advanced macros

Let Target denote an instruction set: SCALAR/SSE4/AVX2/AVX3/PPC8/NEON/WASM. Targets are only used if enabled (i.e. not broken nor disabled). Baseline means the compiler is allowed to generate such instructions (implying the target CPU would have to support them).

  • HWY_Target=## are powers of two uniquely identifying Target.

  • HWY_STATIC_TARGET is the best enabled baseline HWY_Target, and matches HWY_TARGET in static dispatch mode. This is useful even in dynamic dispatch mode for deducing and printing the compiler flags.

  • HWY_TARGETS indicates which targets to generate for dynamic dispatch, and which headers to include. It is determined by configuration macros and always includes HWY_STATIC_TARGET.

  • HWY_SUPPORTED_TARGETS is the set of targets available at runtime. Expands to a literal if only a single target is enabled, or SupportedTargets().

  • HWY_TARGET: which HWY_Target is currently being compiled. This is initially identical to HWY_STATIC_TARGET and remains so in static dispatch mode. For dynamic dispatch, this changes before each re-inclusion and finally reverts to HWY_STATIC_TARGET. Can be used in #if expressions to provide an alternative to functions which are not supported by HWY_SCALAR.

  • HWY_LANES(T): how many lanes of type T in a full vector (>= 1). Used by HWY_FULL/CAPPED. Note: cannot be used in #if because it uses sizeof.

  • HWY_IDE is 0 except when parsed by IDEs; adding it to conditions such as #if HWY_TARGET != HWY_SCALAR || HWY_IDE avoids code appearing greyed out.

The following signal capabilities and expand to 1 or 0.

  • HWY_CAP_INTEGER64: support for 64-bit signed/unsigned integer lanes.
  • HWY_CAP_FLOAT64: support for double-precision floating-point lanes.
  • HWY_CAP_GE256: the current target supports vectors of >= 256 bits.
  • HWY_CAP_GE512: the current target supports vectors of >= 512 bits.

The following indicate the maximum number of lanes for certain operations. For targets that support the feature/operation, the macro evaluates to HWY_LANES(T), otherwise 1. Using HWY_CAPPED(T, HWY_GATHER_LANES(T)) generates the best possible code (or scalar fallback) from the same source code.

  • HWY_GATHER_LANES(T): supports GatherIndex/Offset.
  • HWY_VARIABLE_SHIFT_LANES(T): supports per-lane shift amounts (v1 << v2).

As above, but the feature implies the type so there is no T parameter:

  • HWY_COMPARE64_LANES: 64-bit signed integer comparisons.
  • HWY_MINMAX64_LANES: 64-bit signed/unsigned integer min/max.

Detecting supported targets

SupportedTargets() returns a cached (initialized on-demand) bitfield of the targets supported on the current CPU, detected using CPUID on x86 or equivalent. This may include targets that are not in HWY_TARGETS, and vice versa. If there is no overlap the binary will likely crash. This can only happen if:

  • the specified baseline is not supported by the current CPU, which contradicts the definition of baseline, so the configuration is invalid; or
  • the baseline does not include the enabled/attainable target(s), which are also not supported by the current CPU, and baseline targets (in particular HWY_SCALAR) were explicitly disabled.

Advanced configuration macros

The following macros govern which targets to generate. Unless specified otherwise, they may be defined per translation unit, e.g. to disable >128 bit vectors in modules that do not benefit from them (if bandwidth-limited or only called occasionally). This is safe because HWY_TARGETS always includes at least one baseline target which HWY_EXPORT can use.

  • HWY_DISABLE_CACHE_CONTROL makes the cache-control functions no-ops.
  • HWY_DISABLE_BMI2_FMA prevents emitting BMI/BMI2/FMA instructions. This allows using AVX2 in VMs that do not support the other instructions, but only if defined for all translation units.

The following *_TARGETS are zero or more HWY_Target bits and can be defined as an expression, e.g. -DHWY_DISABLED_TARGETS=(HWY_SSE4|HWY_AVX3).

  • HWY_BROKEN_TARGETS defaults to a blocklist of known compiler bugs. Defining to 0 disables the blocklist.

  • HWY_DISABLED_TARGETS defaults to zero. This allows explicitly disabling targets without interfering with the blocklist.

  • HWY_BASELINE_TARGETS defaults to the set whose predefined macros are defined (i.e. those for which the corresponding flag, e.g. -mavx2, was passed to the compiler). If specified, this should be the same for all translation units, otherwise the safety check in SupportedTargets (that all enabled baseline targets are supported) may be inaccurate.

Zero or one of the following macros may be defined to replace the default policy for selecting HWY_TARGETS:

  • HWY_COMPILE_ONLY_SCALAR selects only HWY_SCALAR, which disables SIMD.
  • HWY_COMPILE_ONLY_STATIC selects only HWY_STATIC_TARGET, which effectively disables dynamic dispatch.
  • HWY_COMPILE_ALL_ATTAINABLE selects all attainable targets (i.e. enabled and permitted by the compiler, independently of autovectorization), which maximizes coverage in tests.

If none are defined, the default is to select all attainable targets except any non-best baseline (typically HWY_SCALAR), which reduces code size.

Compiler support

Clang and GCC require e.g. -mavx2 flags in order to use SIMD intrinsics. However, this enables AVX2 instructions in the entire translation unit, which may violate the one-definition rule and cause crashes. Instead, we use target-specific attributes introduced via #pragma. Function using SIMD must reside between HWY_BEFORE_NAMESPACE and HWY_AFTER_NAMESPACE.

Immediates (compile-time constants) are specified as template arguments to avoid constant-propagation issues with Clang on ARM.

Type traits

  • IsFloat<T>() returns true if the T is a floating-point type.
  • IsSigned<T>() returns true if the T is a signed or floating-point type.
  • LimitsMin/Max<T>() return the smallest/largest value representable in T.
  • SizeTag<N> is an empty struct, used to select overloaded functions appropriate for N bytes.

Memory allocation

AllocateAligned<T>(items) returns a unique pointer to newly allocated memory for items elements of POD type T. The start address is aligned as required by Load/Store. Furthermore, successive allocations are not congruent modulo a platform-specific alignment. This helps prevent false dependencies or cache conflicts. The memory allocation is analogous to using malloc() and free() with a std::unique_ptr since the returned items are not initialized or default constructed and it is released using FreeAlignedBytes() without calling ~T().

MakeUniqueAligned<T>(Args&&... args) creates a single object in newly allocated aligned memory as above but constructed passing the args argument to T's constructor and returning a unique pointer to it. This is analogous to using std::make_unique with new but for aligned memory since the object is constructed and later destructed when the unique pointer is deleted. Typically this type T is a struct containing multiple members with HWY_ALIGN or HWY_ALIGN_MAX, or arrays whose lengths are known to be a multiple of the vector size.

MakeUniqueAlignedArray<T>(size_t items, Args&&... args) creates an array of objects in newly allocated aligned memory as above and constructs every element of the new array using the passed constructor parameters, returning a unique pointer to the array. Note that only the first element is guaranteed to be aligned to the vector size; because there is no padding between elements, the alignment of the remaining elements depends on the size of T.